My DH & I are expecting our first at the end of May. For a number of reasons I'd like to try co-sleeping either in the bed with one of those bumper things or in a co-sleeper like the Arm's Reach ones.

My biggest concern is our two cats. They love to walk all over our stomachs and chests at night, kneeding us. They sometimes sleep above our heads on our pillows. When the baby comes, should we kick them out of the bedroom at night? Should we go with an Arm's Reach with the netting attachment? What has worked for you?

Hi! We have two very affectionate cats and I also was afraid they would bother the baby. I even considered a screen sheild thingy for the crib.....lol

Fastward 8 months......

Rowan sleeps in bed with us. The cats never went near the bed when she was little. After a few months they slept at our feet and just now they occaisionally sleep near our chests. Rowan loves to play with the cats and they just lay there as she pulls their fur. She is very strong for her age though. I've caught her lifting my pillow above her head and making cooing noises. Very enjoyable. Also my cats are light - under 8lbs so I'm not worried about her smothering. Do what's best for you though! You know your cats and your baby. Co-Sleeping with pets is not recommended I believe.

Montessori teacher working part time and trying to keep up with the kiddos. DD1 (June 08) DS1 (June 10) DD2 (June 10)

We had (and still do have) two cats when our little on was born. We co-sleep as well and we just closed the door at night to keep the cats out. Usually though, when she's napping during the day and they're around, they come up and nestle right next to her and snuggle up with her. It's rather cute actually. She's never had a problem with either of our cats and they both have claws. Actually, our fat cat still weighs more than she does!!
Good Luck!! And congrats on the babe!

I was afraid of this with our animals (2 dogs and 3 cats) but as a newborn, they didn't even come close to him! They sniffed him when we brought him home and that was about it. We only have 1 cat now that will check him out (especially if he is crying, it's sweet-it's like he's checking on him!) but we haven't had any issues sleeping with our pets in the same room/bed. Just be very aware in the first month and keep an eye on them!

Mama to a wild thing (10/08) and a new thing (8/5/10) and wife to the love of myTypos+weird words=typing on my iPhone

one cat slept near my dd's head - so touching my dd's head. the other one slept near her feet. from day 1. having something touch the top of her head helped with my dd's sleep. and a warm body of a cat instead of a pillow or bed rail made a difference.

as she grew older the feet cat would lay between the wall and my dd and i remember my dd would sleep on if hte cat was sleeping with her and i got up.

as she grew older and more and more mobile the feet cat disappeared and would not come near her or the bed. the other cat became her pillow. 6 years later she is still the head pillow or body pillow. and the kitty is our wake up service in the morning for school.

I was worried about this too. Especially since one of the cats had a habit of rubbing up against me and purring and begging to be pet at all hours of the night! So the first night, dd was sleeping in the cosleeper next to our bed (well, that only lasted until we came to bed, then she joined us in bed!) and for the longest time, one of the cats was sitting on the bed, just..staring. Not moving at all. Keeping a good safe distance but watching. I was nervous so I shut the cats out of our bedroom when we went to bed. They didn't like that at all! They still hate shut doors, in any part of the house. I got up to pee in the night and left the door open a crack. One of the cats slooowly poked her head in, taking slow tentative steps into the room. I'm sitting there going "psst!!!" trying to get her to back out but she wouldn't. Then they both just ran in. I let them stay from then on. They kept their distance. They were intimidated by her.

I have 2 very affectionate Siamese, one who has a history of sleeping on my face. So I was also worried, as I wanted to co sleep but didn't want the cats to unknowingly endanger baby. I had heard of many stories where pets kept their distance, but I needed to see how my animals would react to my baby.

Shutting the cats out of the bedroom was considered, but these are Siamese. They are loud, and they don't take no for an answer. So that was going to be a tough thing to do, and yowling cats didn't seem conducive to helping baby or frazzled parents sleep.

I bought the Arms Reach Co Sleeper and bought the canopy thingy that goes over it. I wanted to know that I had one option that would keep the cats totally away from the baby if need be. For the cosleeper to be totally cat proof, it meant having the detachable rail up between the cosleeper and our bed - meaning that I'd need to get up and move the canopy to get to the baby at night, not ideal in cosleeping terms. But still, if it was a safety issue, I wanted to have that option.

We've only used the co sleeper the very first night that baby came home. Like many of the other respondents' pets, my cats kept their distance and have taken to sleeping at our feet. Still, I don't regret getting the cosleeper because I didn't know what to expect. I may end up using it again once he starts crawling and I want somewhere secure to put him between the time he goes to bed and the time I go to bed. And I'll probably sell it on Craigslist afterward.

Our two cats reacted totally differently. The one who waits for kids at the end of our walk with his belly up kept his distance, but was always nearby. He ran to ds when he cried and would stand on dh's shoulders to supervise bath time. The cat with no boundaries who I was worried about is still mostly nervous around ds and doesn't come in arms reach most of the time, but is still affectionate with dh and I. You just never know.

i have 2 cats and a 5.5 month old.. for the first few days when we came home from the hospital, we locked the cats in the guest room. they get into everything and i just couldn't deal with it. when we finally let them out they made it clear they could care less about the baby.. they're scared of her. to this day, they will smell her head at most. however, they jump into the pack and play so when she naps i have to be right next to her. i don't want them landing on her. and at night i put them in the guest room because one has a horrible habit of scratching her pack and play and i don't want it ripped, and the other scratches at my door all night if i don't let her in. i don't let them sleep with us- they aren't declawed and i just feel better about not letting them in.

I was afraid about our cat smothering the baby (cause people kept telling me that), so we stopped allowing our cat in our bedroom. She sleeps on her little chair in the office and is very content in there. When the baby is napping, I make sure the door is closed so she can't crawl in bed with him. I'm probably overly cautious, but our cat is a little unpredictable at times. She's not one of those cuddley cats.

We had 2 heavy cats when our first son arrived. One remained curious/wary/skittish. The other was curious & friendly enough to bother me (he's a part-Siamese face/neck sleeper on us!) We chose to shut them away from our family bed so that the only interaction was when an adult was awake to monitor. We kept that up for... 8 weeks or so? (Until our son had developed that better control.) Loki then proceeded to sleep as close to our son as he could, & Daniel pulled as much fur as he could!

The other cat never adapted to a home with children. He could NOT cope with Daniel's enthusiasm, so we rehomed him, and he's thriving in a permanently childless home.